the boat we were eating a late supper in the
cabin when we heard a heavy thump at the
stern. We investigated and found that a 14
foot great white shark had rammed the boat
in the process of stealing a 50-pound bag of
minced tuna meat that had been hanging
well above water and dripping juice down
into it. At length we turned in, hoping that
the shark would stay around till morning for
us to dive with.
We needn't have worried: The shark
wouldn't leave us alone. All night long it
kept thumping the stern, slapping the boat
amidships with its tail, and actually lifting
the 32-foot craft from below. I can still hear
the heavy rasp of its skin against the hull and
an occasional clank of metal as it encoun
tered the anchor chain.
In the end I came ashore with different
feelings from those predicted by my diving
friends: I believe the great white shark
should be protected, and that it would be a
tragedy if such a magnificent animal van
ished forever from the oceans of the world.
In 1945 Winston Churchill wryly an
nounced: "You may rest assured that the
British government is entirely opposed to
sharks." Churchill probably didn't realize
it, but he and his fellow members of Parlia
ment frequently ate shark meat, one of the
most common ingredients of England's be
loved fish-and-chips.
In the effort to guard himself against
sharks, man is killing them off at an alarm
ing rate. Along Australian and South Afri
can coasts it is common to kill off the sharks
in the area of bathing beaches by protecting
those sections with underwater nets. The
nets are highly effective: In Queensland,
Australia, alone, more than 20,500 sharks of
all kinds became entangled and died in such
nets over a period of 16 years. Conservation
ists are even more alarmed by the fact that
the nets also claimed 468 highly endangered
dugongs, 317 porpoises, 2,654 sea turtles,
and 10,889 rays. As for the 20,500 sharks,
most of them would never go near a swim
mer anyway.
When we consider the rarity of shark at
tacks among hundreds of millions of bathers
each year, we should ask ourselves a moral
question: Because we like to swim and dive
in an environment unnatural to our species,
is it right for us to kill off tens of thousands of
Sharks: Magnificent and Misunderstood
With raw power, a great white hurls
itselffrom the sea while charginga
baited line. These, the largest of all
predatorysharks, inspire a favorite
guessing game: How big? The current
recordstands at 21 feet for a specimen
taken off Cuba in the mid-1940s.
However, a serious challenger has
surfaced. Experts await confirmation
of a greatwhite harpoonedin the Azores
and said to have measured a staggering
29 feet 3 inches.
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